There are many heads that need to roll like bowling balls for the atrocious mishandling of Department of Agriculture’s official Shirley Sherrod. NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous should be at the top of the list.
President Obama, being relentlessly bombarded by a torrential downpour of criticism from everything from the Gulf oil spill to just waking up every morning, was also baited into a knee-jerk reaction by signing off on the premature firing of Shirley Sherrod.
As sinister and dastardly as it was to release that edited video of Shirley Sherrod, it did accomplish the objectives of the far right-wing of the Republican Party. They set the trap for White House officials and reeled in Obama – hook, line and sinker. The GOP and right-wing racists didn’t care if the videotape was true or not. Their only objective is to destroy Obama’s presidency.
That’s why the NAACP is scrambling and fumbling back before the media to hastily spit out some sort of apology after jumping on the “fire Sherrod” bandwagon until it crashed into a brick wall of truth.
That’s why Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he would consider reinstating Sherrod after reviewing the entire video in its context. Well, how nice of you, Mr. Vilsack, after you guys ordered Sherrod to pull her car over to the side of the road to tender her resignation on the fly. Yeah, nice one.
That’s why NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous should tender his own resignation immediately. He admits now that he was duped by conservative groups trying to win the war of the Oval Office. Not since Daffy Duck was tricked by Bugs Bunny into saying “Duck Hunting Season” and getting his own head blown off by Elmer Fudd has someone so easily bamboozled into firing at his own troops.
“We have come to the conclusion we were snookered,” he admitted, feebly and pathetically.
This makes you look horrible, Mr. Jealous, because the referenced incident took place at an NAACP event, which means you had access to the videotape in question and could have watched it before you pulled the ultimate act of buffoonery and coonery. We cannot trust you man to lord over a gargantuan national operation with tens of millions of dollars at your disposal and tens of millions of black people looking to you for protection and redress. Please escort yourself out of NAACP hierarchy immediately and traipse back into obscurity, Mr. Jealous.
And that’s why President Obama owes Sherrod a public apology and offer her the position back, whether or not she accepts it. It’s the least you can do, Obama, after upholding her dismissal before taking inventory of all the facts and leveling a roundhouse blow to her job, her career and her image.
This reminds me of an episode a popular MTV show. Mr. Obama, you got “Punked”. Now, man up and reconcile this disaster before the American people. –terry shropshire
